


out of this cavern

by fallenhurricane



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Kidnapping, M/M, Seelie Realm, izzy and clary are briefly mentioned and clizzy is a thing but they're not in the story i'm sorry :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25760008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenhurricane/pseuds/fallenhurricane
Summary: Alec will laugh about this one day.Maybe.The thing is, at the moment, it’s the furthest thing from funny.OR: Alec and Magnus each get kidnapped by the Seelie Queen and held in her realm until they make a startling discovery.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 13
Kudos: 196
Collections: Hunter's Moon Creation Exchange





	out of this cavern

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hmweasley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/gifts).



> This fic was written for the HM Discord Fic Exchange for hmweasley! 
> 
> I hope you like it! <3
> 
> (The title is from an Adam Young song!)

  
  
Alec will laugh about this one day.

Maybe. 

The thing is, at the moment, it’s the furthest thing from funny. 

_It_ being, of course, his current situation, which is that he’s trapped in the Seelie realm, in what could probably be described as a cave, except that there’s no entrance. Or, more specifically, he guesses, the entrance had sealed itself up as he’d heard the Queen’s laughter ring through the forested land. And it was so stupid that he had entered the realm at all, because Izzy and Clary were supposed to come, supposed to talk to the Queen and her court about an alliance of sorts with the New York Institute (which could later spread to include other institutes and maybe even the Clave, though Alec didn’t have much hope, since their footing with the Seelies was rocky at best), but Izzy had gotten stuck by a shax demon on her last mission and is still in the infirmary and Clary refuses to leave her side. _Soulmates_. Bonding always makes people so sentimental. He still remembers the night Izzy burst into his room, a dark handprint blooming on her neck where Clary had first touched her. Her soulmark. 

Alec sighs and sits on the ground, his back against the cold stone. There’s no way out, no secret latch or hidden window - though he wouldn’t be surprised if the Queen could somehow see in to watch him stewing, that seems like something the Queen would enjoy - and his fingers are rubbed raw from where he’s dug at the stone wall and dirt ground looking for an escape in the utter darkness. The Seelies won’t keep him forever - at least, he doesn’t think so, can’t recall any stories he’s heard of them killing Shadowhunters so slowly and without reason - but as the brand new Head of the Institute (and the youngest ever, at 22) he has _things_ to do, dammit. Things that don’t include sitting in a dark cave without any of his weapons or paperwork or cell phone. And, of course, he hadn’t even _told_ anyone he was going to the Seelie realm, because he’d been so annoyed at the time. This was just swell.

He’s picking at a hangnail when he hears rocks shifting. Sunlight shines through a hole, and he scrambles to his feet, blocking his eyes with a hand, and makes his way towards the light. 

“Get back, Shadowhunter,” a guard says, raising their spear. Alec holds his hands up in front of himself placatingly. Another guard shoves someone else inside - someone Alec hadn’t noticed - and the guards raise their spears and step back. The wall closes back up, rocks grinding together. Alec lets out a groan and feels his way along the wall back towards where he was sitting. He isn’t sure where the stranger is, and quite frankly he can’t bring himself to care. He’d been stripped of all his weapons before being shoved in the cave, so it’s more than likely the stranger had been, too. 

“Not in a very welcoming mood today, is she?” a melodic voice says, lilting and soft. 

Alec, who’s slumped against the wall again, snorts, glancing in the direction of the stranger. He finds a loose rock and drags it through the dirt by his knees. “Is she ever?”

The stranger hums, and suddenly an orb of light appears. Alec startles, but the stranger just holds it as it hovers above his hands, using its light to gaze around the cave. Alec takes in his dark faux-hawk tipped with blue, his velvet jacket, painted nails, layered necklaces, and his striped trousers and shiny boots. All at once he realizes that while he hadn’t put much thought into who else the Seelies had taken prisoner in the minute since he’d been given company, he didn’t expect a Warlock. And certainly not one who looks… like _this._

The Warlock shifts his attention to Alec, and Alec freezes, the rock in his hand dropping to the ground. His eyes are gold, slitted, inhuman. In the back of his mind, Alec knows he’s supposed to find them monstrous. He’s supposed to find the entire man standing in front of him abhorrent, an abomination. But. They’re captivating. _He’s_ captivating. 

He’s only spoken one sentence. 

Alec shakes himself. 

The Warlock smiles softly, takes a couple steps towards Alec and gestures at the cave around them. “They have spells in place to keep me from magicking us out of here. However, they’re not stopping me from doing this.” He waves a hand and an elegant sofa appears. He sits gingerly down and pats the open space next to him. Alec draws his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around them. The Warlock shrugs, fiddling with a ring on his finger. “How long have you been here?”

“A few hours, at least,” Alec estimates. 

The Warlock hums again, and leans back.

****

Alec can’t even begin to guess how long it’s been. He can feel stubble on his jaw and has thought about asking the Warlock to summon him a razor, but he doesn’t want to be a bother. Plus, he’s not sure if a sharp blade would get through the spells the Seelies have up. 

The Warlock has been summoning things for a while. He summoned another sofa since Alec refused to sit next to him, then some blankets when he saw Alec curling in on himself, and some food when he was hungry, but enough to feed Alec as well. Each time, he says that it’s no issue, but Alec can see that it’s draining him. He’s heard that using magic in the Seelie realm is harder for Warlocks than using it in the mundane world, and it appears to be true. 

“I have missed this,” he says as they gobble down pieces of pizza. He smiles as he takes a bite of crust. It was Alec’s turn to pick a food, and all he could think about was a wide slice of pepperoni from his favorite shop. He misses New York. He misses the _sunlight,_ not to mention Izzy, Jace, even Clary. Magnus finishes his slice and sighs, relaxing back onto the sofa. The glowing orb dances above his head. “We never did get around to introductions, did we? I’m Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn.” 

Alec stares at him. “Really?”

Magnus rolls his eyes. “No, sweetheart” - and Alec ignores the way his heart pounds at that - “I’m pulling your leg. Yes, really. Is that so hard to believe?”

“Oh,” Alec says. His brows furrow - he knows he’s never seen this man before but the _High Warlock_? He swipes grease from his lips with his sleeve. “No, no, it’s just - my mother was the Head of the New York Institute and I-”

Magnus frowns. “You’re Alexander.”

Alec swallows. Magnus looks… upset? Frustrated? He’s not sure, but he doesn’t like it. He wants to make him smile again. “Yeah.”

Magnus hums.

They finish eating in relative silence and soon Magnus is laying on one of the twin sofas, covered by a blanket and breathing steadily, Alec lets himself think. The orb Magnus first summoned glows above him. They both had discussed the situation; Magnus had confirmed what Alec thought about the Seelie queen somehow watching them. He could sense a surveillance spell. But they couldn’t figure out why. And they couldn’t figure out how to get out of this stupid fucking cave. 

Magnus shifts and his blanket slips off him to the dirt floor, but he doesn’t wake. Alec sticks his hand out from under his own blanket and feels the cold air of the cave before getting up and carrying his throw over to Magnus. He drapes it gently over the Warlock, ignoring the blush he feels darkening his face, growing warmer when his hand accidentally brushes over Magnus’s shoulder.

Alec straightens up, grabs Magnus’s fallen blanket off the ground, and clears his throat quietly as he shakes the dirt off it and curls up back on his sofa. 

****

It could be hours later or it could be days - Alec’s lost all sense of time - when it happens. Magnus, after complaining that he could smell his own body odor as well as Alec’s, has summoned a bucket of water and some washcloths and towels. “Ideally, it would be a full shower, but…” He doesn’t finish the thought. He doesn’t have to. Alec can tell he’s tired, from the way he’s stopped magicking his hair into a faux-hawk after every nap to the way he’d taken to sleeping more, wrapping himself in a blanket and curling into a ball on his sofa. 

Alec always kind of wants to hug him. But it’s just a passing thought. Mostly. He doesn’t do it because he doesn’t _really_ want to, and also because, while Magnus hasn’t brought up the fact that he’s a Lightwood again, Alec knows it gave him some kind of pause. 

When Magnus shucks off his jacket and unbuttons his shirt, Alec ignores the way his own breath catches and attempts to avert his eyes from Magnus’s abs and back and the angles of his hips. Unfortunately, there’s still not much to look at in the cave, so he finds himself drawing in the dirt with the toe of his boot. 

Magnus hums quietly as he washes himself and Alec focuses on the noise, until he stops abruptly. “What in the world?” Magnus says softly. And Alec can’t help himself. He turns to look. 

Magnus pauses, flicks his fingers and creates another glowing orb, this one smaller, brighter. He holds it in one hand, raises it to his shoulder. Alec sees his brows furrow but can’t see what he’s looking at. Magnus drops his washcloth on the edge of the bucket and glances at Alec. 

Alec meets his gaze, feeling suddenly nervous. His fingers twitch in his lap. Magnus’s eyes dart down to them “What?”

Magnus squints, but doesn’t say anything as he walks to Alec. Alec shifts back on the sofa; every nerve in him feels alight, and he wants to run, but every single one of his muscles is saying _stay_. Magnus stops in front of him, their feet nearly touching, and holds out the orb, lighting Alec up. Alec’s fingers twitch again. 

He looks up and finds Magnus looking at him, at his face, meeting his gaze. Asking a silent question as he reaches for Alec’s hand. And Alec just breathes. 

Magnus’s tan hand grips Alec’s and lifts it to the light and Alec’s heart is rabbiting out of his chest, he feels like he’s going to pass _out_ , but what the hell is that, on his knuckle, there’s a dark smudge and it-

A soulmark.

Fuck. 

Alec inhales sharply and Magnus tightens his hold on his hand, reassuring, as he sits next to him and Alec’s eyes shoot from his hand to Magnus’s face to his hand to Magnus’s eyes, looking for some kind of explanation or any hint of disappointment from the Warlock. But there’s none there. Not that he can see. 

“Are you alright?” Magnus asks, voice soft.

Alec’s eyes are wide as he looks at him. “I- I don’t- how are you so calm?”

Magnus smiles small. “I’m anything but calm on the inside, Alec. But I’ve been half-expecting my soulmate to be anyone I meet for nearly 400 years now. I’ve had some time to settle with the idea that it could be even the person I least expect. Even a Lightwood.” He pauses. “But when-?”

Alec takes a shuddering breath. Magnus is still holding his hand, and that’s good, it feels good. “I- you dropped your blanket a while ago. You were asleep, I just- I just gave you a blanket.” 

Magnus’s smile grows. “You’re full of surprises,” he says, so quietly Alec can hardly hear it. 

Alec smiles softly, squeezes Magnus’s hand, and Magnus squeezes back. “I’m fine, or I will be, I just didn’t think- a Warlock, yanno?” Magnus smirks. “I’m not- I’m not upset or anything, I’m just- and in the Seelie realm?”

Magnus dims the bright orb a bit and sends it floating into the space above them. He takes Alec’s other hand in his and Alec lets him, suppressing a shiver, which, _what_ , and bites his lip. “I think,” he says, “there might be a reason for that.” 

Alec stares at him for a second before groaning, dropping his head to his chest. Magnus laughs. “She tricked us into getting together?!” 

“Usually it would be part of a bargain,” Magnus says, “her using Unseelie for entertainment. I came asking for help with a Warlock matter, but I brought my own barter.”

Alec cringes. He, apparently, still has much to learn about Seelies. “I was going to ask them for a kind of alliance with the New York Institute,” Alec says. He rolls his eyes. “I deserve it after all this.”

Magnus laughs again. Alec wants to bottle it up and save it for a sad day. “Excuse me,” Magnus says. He lets go of Alec’s hands and rises from the sofa, heading back to the washtub. “I think you had a lovely time with me.”

Alec rolls his eyes, but rises from the sofa as well, following him. Some innate part of him wants to stay near the Warlock. He spares a brief second to wonder if that’s normal for new soulmates, if it ever fades. If that’s why Clary couldn’t leave Izzy. His previous ire at them dissipates. He catches Magnus’s hand. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

Magnus turns and places his hands on Alec’s chest. Alec can see the smudge on his shoulder, and he wants to touch it, kiss it. “You must learn to love my sense of humor, darling.”

Blushing at the endearment, Alec nods once. “I already do, I think”

Magnus smiles. “If we ever get out of this forsaken cave, would you be willing to hear more of it over drinks?”

Alec nods again, and as rocks shift, light pours in.

  
  



End file.
